Our History
Hennessy Advisors, Inc. was founded in 1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area by Neil J. Hennessy, who had been a successful stockbroker and branch, regional, and divisional manager for Paine Webber. He named the company in honor of his father, Edward J. Hennessy, who had also been a successful stockbroker. Neil believed that his father embodied the ideals that would make his business successful.
Hennessy Advisors was founded on the principles of operating with honesty and high ethical standards, building strong partnerships, and managing the business for the sole benefit of shareholders, and those same principles guide us today, over 30 years later.
The firm became an SEC-registered investment advisor in 1990 and later expanded to managing mutual funds. Hennessy launched its first fund in 1996, followed soon thereafter by its second fund in 1998. Following eleven successful, strategic acquisitions, the Hennessy family of products now includes mutual funds covering domestic equity, multi-asset, sector, and specialty categories as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Hennessy Advisors is headquartered in Novato, CA, and maintains offices in Boston, MA, Chapel Hill, NC, and Austin, TX.
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1989Commenced operations
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1990Registered as an Investment Advisor
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1996Launched first mutual fund, the Hennessy Balanced Fund
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1998Launched second mutual fund, the Hennessy Total Return Fund
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2000Acquired the Cornerstone Growth Fund and the Cornerstone Value Fund
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2002Initial public offering
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2003Acquired the SYM Select Growth Fund to launch the Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 Fund
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2004Acquired the Linder Funds and merged five funds into existing Hennessy Funds
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2005Acquired the Henlopen Fund to launch the Hennessy Cornerstone Growth Fund, Series II (which subsequently merged into the Hennessy Cornertone Growth Fund)
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2009Acquired two Tamarack Funds, one of which launched the Hennessy Cornerstone Large Growth Fund and the second of which was later merged into the Hennessy Cornerstone Value Fund
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2009Acquired the SPARX Japan Fund and the SPARX Japan Smaller Companies Fund and renamed them the Hennessy Japan Fund and the Hennessy Japan Small Cap Fund
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2012Acquired the FBR Funds, merged three funds into existing Hennessy Funds and added the following seven funds: Hennessy Focus, Hennessy Gas Utility, Hennessy Small Cap Financial, Hennessy Large Cap Financial, Hennessy Technology, Hennessy Equity and Income, and Hennessy Core Bond (later liquidated)
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2014Stock listing moved to NASDAQ from OTC BB
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2015Completed a self-tender offer to repurchase 1.5 million shares (post split)
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2016Acquired the two Westport Funds, which were merged into the Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 Fund
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2017/18Acquired three Rainier Funds, which merged two funds into the Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 Fund and merged one into the Hennessy Cornerstone Large Growth Fund
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2018Acquired the BP Capital TwinLine Energy Fund and the BP Capital TwinLine MLP Fund to launch the Hennessy BP Energy Transition Fund and the Hennessy BP Midstream Fund
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2021Transferred the listing of our common stock from The Nasdaq Capital Market to The Nasdaq Global Market. Completed a public offering of $40.25 million 4.875% Notes due 2026 that trade on Nasdaq under the trading symbol HNNAZ
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2022Acquired the Stance Equity ESG Large Cap Core ETF to launch the Hennessy Stance ESG ETF
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2023Acquired the CCM Small/Mid-Cap Impact Value Fund and merged it into the Hennessy Stance ESG ETF
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2024Acquired the CCM Core Impact Equity Fund and merged it into the Hennessy Stance ESG STF
